It’s always best practice to read through an article before sharing it via social media.

Sometimes a headline tells you most of what you need to know, and it’s okay to only skim the article, without reading every word. For example, if your local paper reports that a new baby panda was born at your zoo, you can pretty well trust you got the gist of the takeaway before even clicking on the link. It’s still a good idea to read through it, of course, just to be sure there are no critical takeaways/surprising angles towards the bottom of the page. But you are probably safe making assumptions about what you’ll find in the article.

While reading through articles before you share them with your networks them is important, if the article in question is about you, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!

On its face, this is a pretty big honor. A significant paper from the state’s capital city named Hatch their person of the year. I can see why he would be excited to get that out far and wide to his networks.

Unfortunately for him, the article didn’t exactly line up with the headline.

The very first line of the article should have been a clue to even the most casual of readers: “These things are often misunderstood.”

It then lays out what he has done to deserve such a title. • Hatch’s part in the dramatic dismantling of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. • His role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in passing a major overhaul of the nation’s tax code. • His utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.

While the first two bullet points were clearly intended to be direct hits against Hatch, it is possible that he could wear both criticisms as points of pride. If he thinks it’s good to scale back national monuments and to raise working people’s taxes so that massive corporations can get a tax break, then he might have read the opening lines and been proud of his accomplishments.But of course the opening line of the article made clear that the Salt Lake Tribune editorial staff is far from impressed with their senior senator.

And even if the intention of the first two bullet points confused him, that last one was pretty damn clear: “His utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.”

Oof.

The article goes on to call him a liar who has long overstayed his welcome in Utah. It also says that if he doesn’t retire now, the voters should toss him from office in 2018.

Double Oof.

​I read the article yesterday and thought — "Damn! This is brutal."

But of course that’s not the story here. The story here is that while I read the article and found it brutal, Senator Hatch (and/or one of his aides) saw the article as well, but never read past the title before proudly shared the scathing op-ed with his Twitter network this morning.

Oof. Oof. Oof.

Let this be a lesson to you. Read the article you are sharing. ESPECIALLY if you are the subject.

P.S. Do you know what the ratio is (in the context of Twitter)? It’s when you get waaay more responses to a tweet than likes or retweets. It’s typically a sign that people disagree with your message pretty vehemently, as supporters typically like or retweet, and comments tend to be criticisms of the message. Someone might say: dang, look at that ratio! So notice Hatch’s tweet has a 10:1 ratio.

Social media moves fast. You need a good strategy, but also countless cute/clever/funny/helpful/interesting pieces of content day in and day out to make it work. If you are doing it regularly, you are going to occasionally make mistakes.

The majority of the time, you will notice your error before anyone else does and you can delete your tweet or edit your post. Sometimes though, the only option is a response.

In preparation for Black Friday, McDonald’s sent the following tweet into the world:

WHOOOOOOOOOPS!

This wasn’t a typo or someone hitting send too fast. This was someone copy and pasting a note from an internal document, throwing it into Twitter or a third party scheduler, and letting it fly.

They didn’t even wait until Black Friday to send it — the tweet went live on Thanksgiving.

Now if you run a small business or manage your band or nonprofit’s social media account, you could simply delete this tweet. If you’re a behemoth like McDonald’s, not so much.

On Friday night, I went to see a Grammy winning bluegrass legend wow his crowd with songs spanning his 40+ year career.​

Because I’m both a bluegrass nerd and a social media nerd, I streamed one of his songs via Facebook Live.

It was late on a weekend night and it didn’t get a lot of views in real time. But over the next 36 hours or so, it was watched a few dozen times. (And now I can go back and rewatch the band anytime I want on my personal Facebook page!) But truth be told, by Sunday night, I wasn’t thinking about the video anymore than I was about the drive to and from the show.

But then Monday morning, something interesting happened — my video was “liked” by the bluegrass legend it featured.

Now let’s be clear: I don’t think that this artist liked the post himself (although he might have). More likely it was a member of his marketing or management team.

But the notification that he had liked my video popped up, and I have to be honest — I got excited. Like, more excited than I probably should have.

I work in social media for a living. I know how this works. I know he probably has some marketing agency liking positive mentions of him online. But you know what: it still got its intended effect out of me!

Having him like my video felt like getting a high five or a quick hello from a bluegrass legend.

Does that handshake mean that we are suddenly best friends? Of course not.

Does it mean I can suddenly shred on the mandolin like he can? I wish!

Am I still excited enough that I immediately want to tell all my friends about it? Yup.

Liking that post cost him literally nothing (save for whatever he’s paying his agency to manage his social media—but that’s a story for another post). Yet it added to my excitement about the show.

Social media serves many roles, not least of which is customer service and community relations.

Think about yourself as a movie star. When you walk down the street, people recognize you. You can't stop and have lunch with every fan. You can’t even stop and take a picture with them all or you’d never get anywhere. But you can nod and smile to everyone who waves at you.

That’s what a "like" or a "favorite" is on social media — it’s a head nod from a celebrity. It doesn’t suddenly make you best friends or ensure that they will buy your product/go see your next movie/buy your upcoming album. But it shows the fans that you are real, and that you respect them as people, not just as consumers. And it only takes as much time to create that connection as you need to give a single click of your mouse or tap on your phone.

If you see a celebrity on the street, and you wave at them, you are going to tell your friends one of two stories:

“Oh my goodness, I just say this famous person on State Street. It was so cool!”

*** OR ***

“I just saw this famous person on State Street. He was kind of a jerk.”

People often tell me they don’t use Twitter because they can’t “say what they want to say in 140 characters.” That’s true, but probably not for the reason they think.

While Twitter allows up to 140 characters, the average reader won’t get past the first 100. That’s right—tweets between 71 and 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate than those creeping up towards 140. Even Twitter’s strict character limit is still too long for most folks!

But what about Facebook? Unlike Twitter, you can write significantly more in a Facebook post. If you are wondering, there is a limit—it’s 63,206 (because why not end this massive limit with a 6?!). So you might assume you should be utilizing more of those precious characters in your posts. But that’s actually not true.

The Three-Line RuleThis limit may seem a bit oppressive (and complicated—who’s got time to count every character), so I usually recommend what I call the three-line rule. Try to keep your content under three lines of text (not including your link).

Quick, easy, concise.

Can a post be too short?Alternately, people often share links/pictures/videos without adding any context to the post. I HIGHLY recommend you offer at least a few words as to why you are sharing whatever it is you are sharing.

A link without context will tell us the headline of the article, but it won’t tell your audience why they should care. Are you excited about the news you are sharing? Or dismayed? Is there a change coming that your audience must know about, or just an interesting piece of information, should they have a few spare minutes? Add a few words and spell out your key takeaway(s) for your audience.

Another fun trick: you can use a pull quote. A pull quote is where you literally pick a sentence (or a paragraph or two) that sum up your key takeaway from the article and share it in quotes.

The same is true for pics and videos. Who’s in the media (tag them if you can!)? Where are you? What is happening? Give us the context we need to be excited about your content.

So to summarize:

Keep your posts short

But not too short

Facebook NotesIF you want to write longer posts on Facebook (and there are times where that might make sense), there is a smarter way to do so than by just creating a regular post with a lot of text.

When you go to your brand page to create a post, it automatically defaults to a general post. But if you notice, directly below where it says “Write something…” there are a bunch of icons with additional options.

Some are fun, some less so. Play around with all of them and see if any of them are right for you.

The one we are talking about today though is a Facebook Note. To access it, first click “See All.”

Choose to “Write a note.” Then, instead of your traditional post box, you will see this:

Notice in the header, you have the option to add a photo! While this post type isn’t as powerful as some blogging platforms, it’s quite a bit more interesting than a traditional Facebook post. After uploading a photo, you can give your post a Title.

Then start typing.

But you’re not done yet!

Click where it says “Write something…”. Then select the plus in a circle. You now have the option to drop in a photo or embed throughout your Note.

Or click on the paragraph button directly below the plus and you can format as you wish throughout.

So the next time you have a bunch of pictures from an event, instead of creating an album, try adding them to a Facebook Note, dropping in the photos and telling the story of the event. Or try creating a top ten (or other such number) that will be relevant to your audience.

While this won’t replace your traditional post options, it does offer you an additional tool in your toolkit.

Next time you create a Facebook Note, tag me. I’d love to see what you are doing with this fun tool!

When you sit down to write a social media post, it’s easy to think about promoting your amazing, important and worthwhile message to the world — to make pronouncements that will change your audience’s behavior and blow their minds. Whether you are selling a product, promoting an event or even just sharing an interesting article you came across, you know the value you are adding to your community, and you want your audience to recognize it as well.

It doesn’t matter what the content is, every one of your social media posts will be consumed by (numerous) INDIVIDUAL people, reading it on their INDIVIDUAL screens, as they go about their INDIVIDUAL lives. So ensure that you are writing for each of them as an individual, not some amorphous crowd of people. It’s easy to forget this because your content, once published, will be seen by tens, hundreds or even thousands of people. Rather than thinking about how many people will consume your content, think about how they will consume it—alone. Think of it this way: you aren’t playing in a packed arena, you are providing a private living room concert; adjust accordingly.

Here’s a simple trick for ensuring that your content rings true to each individual member of your community: when you sit down to create it, picture an actual person with whom you want to connect and draft as if you are speaking directly to that particular person. Think about a costumer, a donor, a constituent or a fan… pick one person and write your post directly to them.

Here are some important questions to ask yourself before hitting publish:

Does “Sally” want to read your press release, or hear why it matters to her?

Does she want to be solicited, day in and day out, or does she want to be inspired/entertained/enlightened…?

If you share an article or a picture, will she understand why? (Hint: not if you don’t tell her!)

If you are using acronyms or industry-speak, will she know what you are talking about?

Is your sentence structure clear, is your post properly punctuated, is your spelling correct, are you capitalizing properly? (If you content is hard to follow, Sally isn’t going to dig in and work to decipher it, she is simply going to scroll right by.)

It’s easy to think about a social media post as a megaphone, announcing your latest content to the world. But really, it’s more like a telephone, creating a connection between you and an individual. Treat your content accordingly and get ready for higher engagement rates and better reach on future posts.

And if you are wondering, I wanted to let you know, I wrote this post especially for YOU!

I wrote a guest blog post for Indie on the Move entitled: 5 Ways to Use Facebook Live to Grow Your Brand's Reach. While the post is (obviously) geared towards musicians, I think it can assist any person or brand who works directly with people. Try and think about your own audience: what might a "behind the scenes" peak look like?; what would be the equivalency of your sound check?; what might your customer see as your "tour"?

If you have good answers to any of the above, share them in the comments or on Facebook/Twitter. I'd love to hear about your customer journey.

If you aren't sure how these examples can serve as metaphors for you and your customers, drop me a line. Maybe I can help you figure it out!﻿﻿Without further ado, here are 5 Ways to Use Facebook Live to Grow Your Brand's Reach.

If you spend time on social media, you’re probably familiar with Facebook Live, a relatively new Facebook tool that allows you to broadcast live—in real time—directly to your audience.

While you probably know what Facebook Live is, you might not realize just how powerful it is.

Facebook, at least for the time being, is extremely committed to this tool and is offering all implementers a powerful free gift for using it: guaranteed exposure and engagement!

When you stream via Facebook Live, Facebook gives a notification to every one of your followers that you are currently live. If your followers aren’t online while you go live, they’ll get a notification that you were live. This simple notification all but guarantees increased reach and engagement over even your most well-produced videos.

So that’s why it’s important. But you might also be wondering WHEN you should use it. Here are 5 ways you can use Facebook Live to greatly expand your band’s reach.

1) Do a weekly Live session right from your living room or practice space.

Give it a simple catchy hashtag to demonstrate it’s part of a series. Exs: #MusicMondays or #TuesdayBluesday. Having the day of the week is helpful, to help brand it as something people should expect every week. One caveat: if you tell people you are going to do it weekly, YOU HAVE TO DO IT WEEKLY. If that is too much responsibility, then go with #LivingRoomSessions, or #FunkyFacebook. You’ll lose a bit in the process, because it will be harder for people to know when to expect it. But better they don’t know, then they expect it and it doesn’t happen!

Sharing music like this gives you a chance to connect directly with your audience in a very personal way. They log onto Facebook to see updates from their friends and family… and there is their favorite band or musician, playing just for them! It’s like a private concert for your fans. And the best part: it cost you nothing.

2) Working on a new album? Take us “behind the scenes” into the studio.

Show us your drummer setting up his drum mics or interview your sound engineer about how he gets that special signature sound. This is an easy way to raise awareness—and build excitement—about your new album.

Conversely, when you release a new album, go live to talk about the process. Tell a funny story from the studio, or the meaning behind one of the songs. Is the local record store selling your album? Go in with your smartphone and show it sitting on the shelves. You get to brag a bit about your accomplishment, your fans know where they can find your music, AND the record store will love you: you just gave them a bunch of free publicity!

3) Whether you’re traveling halfway across the country for your next show, or just ten minutes down the road, hop on Facebook Live and let us know how great tonight’s show is going to be.

Will you have a special guest (you don’t have to say who it will be!)? Will you be playing a new song? Is it your first time at a new venue? What better time to talk to your audience then while you’re on your way to a show. For those in other cities, they’ll be excited to hear from you. And for those in town, your video might just be the reminder they needed to call their friends and head on down to the venue!

4) This one is similar to 3, but different enough to get its own point: livestream part of your soundcheck.

If you don’t do a soundcheck, then walk around the venue and talk to your fans. Or show the line to get inside. Or even just tell us how much you are enjoying your pre-show beer! This is your last chance to make a connection before the show starts, and to get all those fans who haven’t yet committed to coming out, to give it once last consideration. Pro tip: Don’t ask them to come, just talk about how excited you are about the night. If your excitement is genuine, they don’t need to be invited—they’ll be eager to get there all on their own!

5) As your band grows, you have more and more fans who live further and further away.

Just because someone isn’t going to drive 6 hours to see your show doesn’t mean they don’t wish they could be there. Buy a tripod (you can get a good one for $20) and set it up on stage. Livestream a song or two. Hell, livestream the whole show. (You can go Live on Facebook for up to 4 hours at a time!) It might be too late for someone not at your show to come out. But this brings them into the party, makes them wish they were there, and all but ensures they’ll try harder next time to make it out.

This list is not meant to be exhaustive—far from it. There’s no shortage of ways you can use this powerful tool to grow your reach and engagement. Are you using Facebook Live in other, clever ways? Please share them with me on Facebook and/or Twitter. I’d love to hear about them!

If you need any additional help with Facebook Live, or with anything else related to your digital story, drop me a line. I always love talking social media and music!

You are busy; there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything. Social media feels like a chore; one that never ends. You might feel that if you can't do it right, why bother doing it all.

Fret not: A good social media program can be run in as few as 20 minutes a day.

This session will help you spend your limited social media time wisely, ensuring you reap the greatest rewards from this ever-growing part of business – in as few as 20 minutes a day!

By having a plan, segmenting tasks and properly organizing your ideas, you can create and manage an interesting, engaging and valuable social media program without having to sacrifice all of your many other responsibilities.

Instagram finished 2016 with 600 million monthly active users. 300 million of them are active on a daily basis. Three. Hundred. MILLION!

That’s 20% of ALL internet users.

And they are active. Everyday, users post an average of 95 million posts. And they like over 4 billion posts. (Yes, that’s billions with a “B”.)

Brands are a big part of the fun. And with good reason: according to Instagram’s Advertiser Statistics, HALF of all users follow at least one brand on the platform. Of those, “60% say that they learn about a product or service on the platform, while 75% take action, such as visiting a website, after looking at a post.”

So here's a simple question: Is your brand making the most of this platform?

Whether this is: -the first you are hearing about this interesting-sounding platform, -you have an account but you're not sure how to get started, or -you use IG daily, but you just aren't sure you're getting everything you can out of it,the time has come for you to Become an Instagram Champion!

We’ll cover topics like:

Getting started with an account, including finding the right avatar and drafting the perfect bio

Hashtags

What are they

How they work

Using them to grow your reach

Tagging

What it is

How to do it

Why it matters

Using filters and easily accessible editing tools to bring your photos and videos to life

Searching the platform by hashtag, user, location and more

Engaging with your audience

Easily toggling between different Instragram accounts

Making the most of Instagram Stories and Instagram Stories Live, including getting started and finding ways to powerfully tell your story through these fun, disappearing posts that can leave a big impression

Great native apps that will help you create super fun and engaging content

Your accounts free analytics

And more!

Trainings can be conducted on-site (in the Madison, WI area) or remotely.

I’ve worked with local, statewide and national political campaigns, nonprofits, small businesses, bands, artists, authors and journalists and more who wanted to better tell their digital story. Ready to tell yours?

I am very honored to have been included as one of Madison's social media and marketing experts.

Here the advice I offered:“Don’t sell; build. Build trust, communities, and relationships. Remember that every Like or Follower is a real person and treat them as such.

“Add value to the lives of your audience, both current and potential. Make it clear it’s not all about the sales funnel.

“Encourage your audience to join you in telling your story. Do this by engaging with their content, responding to their questions and comments, and by sharing/retweeting content they write about you and your brand. It’s always better to let others say how great you are than to try and say it yourself.”